Cambridge-Isanti senior Lexie Anderson completed an inspiring journey by writing and publishing a first novel of her career. More impressive is she has a lineup in position to fill out a six-part series — this while still taking high school classes.
The 18-year-old who resides in the Goldenwood neighborhood in Cambridge was proud to hold a bound copy of her “Island of the Dragons,” which was published this year through CreateSpace from Amazon.com, and the book may be purchased through Amazon.com. She recommended prospective purchasers of the novel to quickly search for it via her pen name Dawn Sheerfire.
“And it’s not quite available on Kindle yet, but I’m getting there,” Anderson said. “But getting it this far owes thanks to my ninth-grade teacher, Mr. (Chad) Filley. He directed me to Amazon CreateSpace and adding an editor, so we hired an editor, Ryan Jacobson.”
The magical creative touch came at an early age for Anderson. Along with writing, she also drew depictions of characters to further flesh out the images in her head.
“I found out I wanted to be an author in fifth grade. Then in seventh grade, I actually had the character design for the main protagonist. And then in eighth grade, I had an idea for a plot,” she recalled. “The main writing came in a four-month span that year.
“I was a very bad writer at first,” she laughed. “I didn’t know how commas or quotations exactly worked. But once I figured some of those things out, I immediately went through and revised and fine-tuned all the details. So I guess I’ve done that for four years. And I’ve found that my writing for, say, class essays or any creative school work improved, since I was always ready to stretch those in a more creative way.”
“Island of the Dragons,” complete with art originally designed by Lexie Anderson.
The lead character of the 214-page “Island of the Dragons” is Mistral Hope.
“I like the magical qualities I gave her, which really enable a lot of things to happen for sequels. She was a first character in my head that really took to paper, and I was like, ‘I’m really going to finish this.’ And she’s also a lot like me. But I try not to insert myself into the book,” Anderson continued.
The magical fantasy setting in a kingdom revolves around Mistral’s meeting and developing relationship with a dragon, Lantern. Death in her family when she was young profusely changes her life direction. Discovered magical abilities lead her to a path of revenge — but personal growth must also take place. Black and white imagery depicted in her knight’s mask is symbolic of the inner battles taking place.
“I think any age of reader will enjoy the book. I mean, my grandma read through it and loved it. So it kind of reaches out to any age,” Anderson said.
“Island of the Dragons” is the opening book of the Whiteheart series, and she has five more books that are solidly in place, just needing a few details to be tweaked.
After high school graduation, Anderson is leaning toward studying creative writing more, along with film study, since she would love to see her books “go up to the big screen.” She recently found out Anoka-Ramsey offers an associate’s degree in creative writing, which would be a nearby place to keep learning the trade.